Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Naturally I’m excited about this investment or I wouldn’t have done it.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2021

For example, I believe Bill Gates would have failed without his partners Steve Ballmer and Paul Allen. I recommend a trial run with an experiment or MVP (minimum viable product), at full price and cost, before the big bang launch, risking your investment money and a major time commitment.

Technical Review 131

Technical Review Case Study Mentor Software Review 131

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2019

Even though investors, like myself, have long made it clear that we invest in people, not ideas, new venture owners insist on talking about their latest “ million dollar idea ,” rather than their “ million dollar team.” For example, I grew up in IBM when Bill Gates was helping us deliver the first IBM PC.

IBM 87

IBM IBM Ideas Technical Review 87

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 22, 2014

While not investing in certain areas may seem like a good idea in the short-term, not spending enough on key elements could shortchange your business, leading not only to headaches but requiring expensive fixes down the road. Here are some areas where it pays to make the necessary investments to get it right the first time: 1.

Startup 97

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Sales 97

socalTECH

OCTOBER 4, 2010

The company provides SAT, ACT, and other similar test preparation courses and related software. I had worked as a tutor for Princeton Review, and Jake for Kaplan. We thought, we could put out a better product than Kaplan or Princeton Review, which would be more compelling, and also would tie in a strong social mission.

Software Review 178

Software Review Technical Review Education Startup 178

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Startup 136

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 136

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 11, 2020

Starting something new is risky, no matter how many experts have reviewed it, or how much money you have. Most people don’t remember that Bill Gates first software venture, called Traf-O-Data , was a dismal failure. You can’t win a race that you never start. Rally people behind a higher purpose, not just a product.

Entrepreneur 131

Entrepreneur Startup Ideas Software Review 131

socalTECH

OCTOBER 2, 2012

We thought it might be interesting to talk with one of the fund's managing directors, Jeb Spencer about the fund's success in technology investments, plus how it managed to raise another fund in this kind of environment, plus its unique goal of getting companies to an acquisition--and not an IPO.

Acquisition 168

Acquisition Software Review Technical Review Equity 168

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2018

We caught up with one of the co-founders, Jay Goss, about what the new investment fund is looking for in a startup, and the types of investments it makes. First, tell us about the fund and what you are looking to invest in? Most of our LPs are healthcare industry executives, who wanted to invest in the fund.

Startup 113

Startup Technical Review Software Review Artificial Inteligence 113

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge of business this year, as millions of consumers are encouraged (or outright mandated, due to Covid-19) to socially distance or want to avoid the crowds of physical shopping and eating excursions.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

By way of example, our access point looks like a Wi-Fi router, but it has a coverage zone of 200 miles, depending on the obstructions that are in the way. We also operate the network software than runs and manages the entire network layer, from access point to end point. Kevin Hell: Essentially, we connect the internet of things.

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. “My we are not going to invest. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 4, 2022

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capitalists) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting. Apply for contests and business grants.

Tips 104

Tips Startup Technical Review Equity 104

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

But on the other hand if you have a product with a very high gross margin (software, virtual goods, etc.) I think many recent companies make the mistake of not investing enough in web products, if they invest anything at all. Try reading a bunch of reviews, checking 5 different restaurants to try and compare the differences.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. If you have a market lead then raising capital and making investments now will help you as others enter the market. ” The Details.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. He calls his book a primer, but his real-life examples illustrate well how predictive analytics unleashes the power of data, and how “ big data ” embodies an extraordinary wealth of experience from which to learn.

Social Media 70

Social Media Study Guide Examples 70

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 13, 2012

They cite Quara, Google, Twitter & Facebook as obvious examples. This is consistent with data I see from RingRevenue , a company in which I invested and sit on the board. Higher conversion rates (10-15x online conversion) and higher value at closure (up to 2x higher) due to up-sell & cross-sell potential.

Mobile 311

Mobile Technical Review Google Screening 311

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2017

He came to work in our offices at Upfront Ventures as an EIR and immediately began building software to improve how storage was picked up, photographed, scanned and routed to a warehouse. An example of the systems companies build are pricing & revenue management tools to best help to optimize yield.

Startup 286

Startup Technical Review Custom Customer 286

SoCal CTO

JULY 23, 2012

For example it includes the following kinds of things that a CTO should be addressing, but that may not be part of the expectation, time allocation, etc. What existing systems will we leverage, what programming languages, software development methodologies, web application frameworks, revision control systems, etc.? Accounting?

CTO Coach 231

CTO Coach CTO Hire Outsource Development Develop 231

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Los Angeles-based Signal Sciences (www.signalsciences.com), which develops web application firewall software, just inked a big, $35M series C funding round a few weeks ago, and now has plans to dramatically expand its hiring in Los Angeles. The easiest example is for an online banking system. Were excited about both angles.

Startup 113

Startup Funding Technical Review Software Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 26, 2016

The reason one would accept losses is when they are investments in fueling faster growth. In an eCommerce or Internet Services business it is often the marketing costs (if purchased online) and in an enterprise software company it is often marketing plus enterprise sales reps. This is how much you spend to get a new customer.

Metrics 150

Metrics Startup SaaS Course 150

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Prime examples include Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat. People are even talking about “decacorns" -- investable companies with net worth now exceeding $10 billion -- like Dropbox and Pinterest. Seed-round investment. This term refers to an initial venture-capital investment, often wrongly sought to seed early product development.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 6, 2019

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capital) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than early projections and product development. This source is a major focus these days, due to government initiatives to incent research and development on alternative energy and other technologies.

Startup 128

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 128

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 28, 2010

For example, if your startup is building a high-tech software product, a dream team of advisors would be a former CEO or high-level exec in another software company, a former software marketing executive, and a former financial executive. What better candidates than your Advisory Board?

Invest 50

Invest Technical Review Software Review High Tech 50

socalTECH

JULY 12, 2013

Many companies would love to be able to get the benefits of cloud--easy configurability, low cost, scaling, and more--but, due to various reasons, can''t take advantage of public cloud services like Amazon. With our software, our clients just inherited the ability to use Ceph, and there was nothing they had to do to get that.

CIO 207

CIO Southern California Technical Review Software Review 207

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 1, 2014

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. He calls his book a primer, but his real-life examples illustrate well how predictive analytics unleashes the power of data, and how “ big data ” embodies an extraordinary wealth of experience from which to learn.

Entrepreneur 103

Entrepreneur Social Media Study Guide 103

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory. Between this blog and reviewing applications to Capital Factory I see hundreds of pitches a year. Here’s an example in a direct sales channel. Silly, right?

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 23, 2012

For example, if your startup is building a high-tech software product, a dream team of advisors would be a former CEO or high-level exec in another software company, a former software marketing executive, and a former financial executive. What better candidates than your Advisory Board?

Startup 95

Startup Technical Review Software Review High Tech 95

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

Jody--an experienced entrepreneur who was most recently co-founder of a firm he sold to the Virgin Group, and has been involved with such firms as Lycos, Buydirect.com, and Xoom--told us the story of EcoMom, plus how he connected with McClure on the investment. Between 1991 and 1995, I was in enterprise software and computer distribution.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 14, 2013

Yet every investor has his own “rules of thumb” on what makes a specific startup too high a risk for his investment taste. Of course, if you intend to fund the business yourself, or have a rich uncle, external investment funding concerns are not a problem. Large initial investment required. Operations in another country.

Startup 109

Startup Summary Software Review Sites 109

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

The United States is now a debtor nation to China and that the bill is about to come due. Want to know, for example, why Foursquare uses MongoDB to store check-in information? Five Reasons You Haven’t Launched - Software By Rob , November 10, 2010 Photo by stevendepolo. One out of ten of Americans are out of work. call to arms.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2016

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. He calls his book a primer, but his real-life examples illustrate well how predictive analytics unleashes the power of data, and how “ big data ” embodies an extraordinary wealth of experience from which to learn.

Social Media 62

Social Media Study Guide Examples 62

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2011

For example, if your startup is building a high-tech software product, a dream team of advisors would be a former CEO or high-level exec in another software company, a former software marketing executive, and a former financial executive. What better candidates than your Advisory Board?

Startup 95

Startup Technical Review Software Review High Tech 95

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 12, 2013

Traditional business intelligence (and data mining) software does a very good job of showing you where you’ve been. He calls his book a primer, but his real-life examples illustrate well how predictive analytics unleashes the power of data, and how “ big data ” embodies an extraordinary wealth of experience from which to learn.

Startup 98

Startup Social Media Study Guide 98

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 4, 2014

It’s almost been a work week since Techzulu and Gadget Review’s REACH | The Connected Future and we’re still reeling with excitement. Tom Soto – Managing Director/Investment Committee Member, TCW/Craton. Tom comments on the state of affairs as someone in the trenches, investing real dollars.

UCLA 99

UCLA Technical Review Software Review Incubator 99

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2009

It's somewhat unusual in this economy to find companies who are seeing strong growth, so we were intrigued recently in running into BlackLine Systems (www.blackline.com), a firm which develops software for helping in the financial reporting process. First, for our readers who aren't familiar with your software, can you explain what it does?

Startup 124

Startup Software Review CTO Hire Oracle 124

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 30, 2019

The problem is that professional investors (angels and venture capitalists) want a proven business model before they invest, ready to scale, rather than the more risky research and development efforts. These resources often include a cash investment, as well as office space, and consulting. Apply for contests and business grants.

Startup 87

Startup Technical Review Equity Incubator 87